Callous Wrath
by Defiled Ladel
Summary: "Unless you know a way to bring her back then I don't care."


**A.N: Hi guys.**

**I know this isn't the Blind Knight chapter I promised and for that I'm sorry. I've dropped the ball lately on my currently unfinished works and I'm finding it difficult to continue them. I have never written a long story before so the pressure is getting to me a little, I want it to be perfect for you guys and I'm not liking what I'm writing.**

**So please bare with me on Blind Knight.**

**In the meantime I bring you this little concoction from my head.**

**If I'm being honest this has really no explanation other than I really wanted Jaune to be a broken husk of a man who doesn't care and wants to be alone.**

**So tell me what you think of it.**

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The bar was cozy. On the outside it gave off the impression of complete disarray, with the almost rotting wood and boarded out windows. The place looked abandoned and left to rot in the back alleys of the city. She would never have guessed the place to be habitable if she couldn't hear the joy and merriment coming from the inside.

'Just like him' She thought as she made her way to the door.

The first thing that registered was the distinct smell of oil and smoke, not enough to make you feel sick but enough to tell you what sought of person frequented the bar itself. Revelers from across the working sectors of Vale were scattered around the tables and booths that lined the edges of the walls, with a few sitting around smaller tables in the centre of the room playing card games to waste away the few daytime hours that still remained.

She only saw one person sat at the bar nursing a drink.

'Found you'

Striding across the room weaving around the tables and patrons alike she found her way a couple seats away from the man she had been sent to find. To say it was easy would be a lie. He was anything but easy to find. If they caught a whiff of him he was gone before they could get there and over the years found out the only reason he showed himself at all was to quell the rumors of his supposed 'death'. The academy had been searching for nearly 2 years before they got a confirmed sighting of him and had called in the closest asset to find and bring him back.

And now here he was sitting only two seats away from her in a bar that only he would find the beauty in.

She looked out of the corner of her eye to see if he had caught on yet. He hadn't looked up from his drink since she entered and didn't show any signs that he even noticed anybody around him, she would of thought he was sleeping if he hadn't signaled the bartender for another drink.

He looked much different since she last saw him. Gone was the smooth, pale skin of his youth and now in its place was a rugged, tanned hide covered in dark stubble and dirty shoulder length hair. She also noticed he had filled out more since his last sighting, hard unyielding muscle had developed what baggy clothing used to hide all those years ago.

She opened her mouth but stopped herself, she hadn't seen him in person for nearly a decade how was she going to speak to him? For all she knew he didn't even remember who she was, the thought made her heart clench painfully.

"Ja..."

She saw his finger raise signaling her to wait. He knocked back the rest of his drink in one go and finally glanced over at her. She saw his jaw tense and watched him sneer at her from his seat before signaling for another drink.

"How did I know they would send you?" His voice was rough as he watched her tense at her obvious discomfort.

"They said I was the closest an..."

"You know that's a lie. They had 3 teams closer than you but instead they send one of the many people who I wouldn't mind never seeing again."

She balked at his interruption, they really hadn't helped when he needed them and now he would much rather never see any of them again. Her chest clenched again when he started to rise from his seat and before she could stop herself she leapt out of her seat and grabbed his wrist holding him in place.

"Please Jaune at least hear me out."

She knew she sounded desperate but she didn't care, he needed to hear what she had to say and he wasn't going to leave until she did.

He relaxed in her hold and sat back down on the stool he previously occupied and she took the one next to him. She could see the lines of his face tense ever few seconds, as if he was physically holding himself back from leaving.

"It's good to see you in person again. It's been a long time."

"Not long enough."

His clipped tone made her uneasy, she would have to try and coax more out of him if she was going to get him to come back with her.

"What do you want Ruby?"

Ruby paused, should she really tell him the big detail first or should she get him back before telling him every detail. If she told him now then he could very well leave and never come back until it was over, but if she omitted certain information then he might be a little curious and come willingly. And if he wasn't coming willingly then she would have to do it by force.

"The academy needs you."

Ruby had accounted for many different responses in her head. From furious rage to completely freezing her out and even immediately leaving the area and disappearing again. What she didn't account for was him laughing loudly in her face like she told him the funniest joke in the world.

"That's a funny joke Ruby."

"It's the truth."

His face shifted instantly back to the ugly scowl that had been there seconds before.

"We both know that the academy doesn't deal with the truth, they like the grey area best. No Ruby the academy doesn't _need_ me they **want** me and we both know they don't like asking more than once."

He was right. The academy rarely asked when they needed something, they merely took and then kept putting pressure on you until you submitted. It worked better when everybody co-operated.

"So before you give me your little spiel about how much you need me let me tell you what's going to happen. You are going to try to persuade me to come back with you and I'm going to tell you to fuck off. Then a couple of days later they are going to send Yang to make me 'reconsider' and I'm going to tell her the same thing. We both know how she's going to react so don't be surprised when she has to eat out of tube for a few days when she returns. After that I'm going to disappear again and the cycle will continue."

Her face went pale. She knew he wasn't lying to her, it was the one thing he had never done to her since she met him all those years ago when she as 15. And she also knew that he was going to disappear again if she couldn't get through to him.

"Please Jaune, you're going to want to hear this."

"Nothing you can say will matter."

"We were friends once, doesn't that count for something?"

He laughed again in her face, a loud laugh that earned them looks from the other patrons trying to ignore them.

"I haven't associated the word friend with you for nearly a decade, so don't try and play me."

At this her heart sank lower into her chest. She wasn't going to be able to get him to come back acting like this, she needed to do something to keep him talking with her for a couple more minutes. When he rose from his stool and started to walk purposely away she knew she would have to tell him what they found out, it was the only thing left she could do.

"It's about Pyrrah. We know who killed her."

She saw his hand stop on the wood of the door. A minuet passed without a sound, the bar had gone silent when she shouted out the only words that could make him stop. She could see the muscles in his back tense and fight with himself as he collected himself.

"Unless you know a way to bring her back then I don't care."

"But..."

"I know who killed her, if she had the backup she was supposed to have then she would be alive now. Your team was her backup, so where were you while my wife was dying? Where were you while she was slowly burning from the inside? Where were you when they put a bullet in her skull?"

She could see the tears rolling down his face as he spoke, each word was a slap to the face when they reached her, each one so full of hate and anger that she felt almost as dead inside as he did.

"You want to know who killed my wife? You did, you and your team are the reason she is dead. The academy left my wife to die and I didn't know until I got back from Vacou two weeks after her body was buried."

He was silent for a few seconds before he looked her in the eye and spoke again.

"So no I won't be coming with you. If I catch a whiff of you following me then I'm going to send you back missing a few important appendages. And if they send Yang after me then you can be rest assured that she will be pissing blood for months."

And with that he opened the door and left into the cold air of the night, walking steadily away from her and all traces of the man he once was.

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**A.N: So what did you think?  
**

**I know it probably isn't everybody's cup of tea and to be honest I dont know what I wanted to achieve with it but I just wanted to write something and this is what came to mind.**

**So tell me it's crap, tell me it's good I really don't mind.**

**Until next time.**

**Ladel.  
**


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